“I know, my love,” she said. “We’re good, Orion. Next time, we can go to a hospital if this makes you stressed. We don’t want you…”
He stopped her.
Then.
And.
There.
“Oh, and my wrath will besoooooomuch worse if you do,” he said, lightening up. “Try it.”
Gene laughed.
He’d been keeping his yap closed because he wasn’t an idiot.
He knew better than to poke any of them when they were stirred up. Joking was a different thing, but you needed to read the room to take the tension down, not up.
“Pull your gun,” he said to Elizabeth. “You know the routine. I think I’ve said that to you more than‘I love you’in the last twenty-two years.”
She laughed, but did what he said.
Her motion was smooth, efficient, and just as fast as normal. She’d gotten lucky, too.
She was fine.
“The vest held up,” she said. “I have padding back there, so it just knocked the wind out of me,” she admitted. “Like being kicked in the balls, I imagine.”
All the men laughed.
Nothing was like being booted in the balls.
NOTHING.
“You’re cleared. Protect that head of yours. Despite the crazy that runs around in it, I love it.”
She touched his cheek.
“Ditto, Orion.”
With a sigh, he went to the worst one.
“Ivan, it’s definitely crooked,” he said, meaning his nose. “We have to realign it. When we get home, you should see a plastic surgeon. You might need your septum fixed. That tends to deviate with any nose trauma”
He laughed.
And laughed.
And laughed.
“If this was my first broken nose, maybe, but my septum has seen as much action as Elizabeth.”
She was amused by her Marine bodyguard.
“Oh, well, you know what they say about things with two holes…” she teased.
Grabbing his nose, he jerked it to the side, and put it back into place, much to Chris’ horror.
The sound was horrific, and there was no way it felt good either.
